Expanding international market key to trade success in Jinniu district

Chengdu's Jinniu district is exploring a new path to develop foreign trade and is striving to help local products get a foothold in the international market, local officials said.

The district held a promotion event in Leshan city, Sichuan province on Oct 15 to boost trade expansion and market procurement of locally made products. The event covered the themes of opening-up, innovation, cooperation and winwin solutions.

Under the procurement trade rules, goods are purchased by qualified operators in a market approved by the country's business departments. The value of a single declaration form is to be no more than $150,000 and customs clearance for exports should be handled at the place of purchase.

Market procurement is a new form of foreign trade, which has many advantages such as improved efficiency in customs clearance and no value-added tax.

On Sept 28, 2018, the General Administration of Customs and seven other ministries approved the Chengdu International Trade Citya modern business platform integrating research and development, production, display, trade and e-commerce in Jinniu district－as a pilot zone for the market procurement trade. It is the first of its kind in western China.

Yang Jianmin, director of Jinniu district's market procurement trade service center, said with market procurement trade as the link, Jinniu will join hands with Leshan to promote the city's tea, cultural creative products and the geographic advantages of Leshan Port.

"The Chengdu-Leshan cooperation will inject vitality into the advancement of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle," Yang said.

Huang Junxiang, general manager of Chengdu Zhongyu Daoyang Trading, said the market procurement trade has simplified the customs clearance process for enterprises.

"With online customs declaration, enterprises only need two or three minutes. It takes just a few minutes to submit the bills instead of taking a day to complete the process like what we did in the past."

Yang said the pilot zone has better policies in tax and customs clearance, more flexible foreign exchange management and lower thresholds for market entry, that will help to attract high-quality companies and strengthen the industrial chain.

This year, the service center has strengthened its anti-pandemic plan based on the diverse needs of market entities. It provide services such as filing, commodity review, foreign exchange management and warehouse reservation, Yang said.

"At the same time, the center has applied for special funds from higher-level governments, issued guidelines for the development of the market procurement trade, quickly released information on supplies for virus prevention and control and tracked the export situation of foreign trade enterprises," Yang said.

On Sept 29, Chengdu's first special loan for the market procurement trade was approved.

Jiang Fan, general manager of Chengdu Zuofan Import and Export Trade, said the loan is like a welltimed rain that helps the company tide over financial difficulties.

"The pressure on capital turnover was effectively eased and the capital and supply chains remained stable," Jiang said.

In the past, it used to be troublesome in customs declaration for scattered and low-profit orders. But now the export process through the market procurement trade is smooth, with low logistical cost, fast customs clearance and flexible foreign exchange management, he said.

Since it participated in the pilot program, the company has exported clothing, shoes, daily necessities and other commodities worth $89.55 million in total via the market procurement trade, he said.

Statistics show that as of Oct 16, the accumulated export value of market procurement in Jinniu exceeded 5.4 billion yuan ($807 million). There were 6,502 market entities registered and more than 25,000 commodities exported to 29 countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The exported goods included machinery products, daily necessities, plastic and rubber products and home textiles, which were exported to Poland, Hungary, Belarus and other countries.

Yang said the district will rely on the Chengdu International Railway Port and the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport to integrate into the Belt and Road Initiative and seize opportunities in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle in the future.